Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I completed this puzzle in reasonable time but struggled to understand some of the wordplay. I think that I’ve now worked it all out correctly.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I suspect this has the hand of Campbell all over it. Very similar to his puzzles in the FT and Toughie. Not the hardest of puzzles to solve, and I suspect that many of you will feel contented at solving this. There’s nothing too contentious here, although a couple of cryptic definitions brought about some tooth-sucking. Cryptic definitions to me are almost an acquired taste. When I’m compiling, I probably use one per puzzle, but for some setters they are the main clue-type. Rufus is far and away the Master of such definitions, but even he occasionally brings about a bout of dental slurping.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon, All!. In my opinion this week’s Saturday Prize Puzzle from Cephas was an improvement on the last couple of weeks (particularly the Cryptic Definitions). There were, however, a couple of clues that caused great rumblings from ‘bloggers on the day; some justified and some, perhaps not. Whilst I was expecting the usual pangram puzzle (Cephas’ trademark) we were left lacking a ‘K’. Whether this was due to a last minute editorial change or simply to fox us will, I fear, remain a mystery.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
I really didn’t enjoy this one. It’s not up to Toughie standard and many of the clues felt as though they’d been generated by computer (not helped by having no less than eight 4-letter answers). Furthermore there are significant errors in two of the clues (9a and 29a).
Let us know whether you agree or disagree with me by leaving a comment, and please remember to indicate your enjoyment (or lack of it) by clicking on one of the stars below.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another good puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard. Many of you will be please to know that this one is a lot easier than yesterday’s!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Today we have a couple of clues that use bakery-related slang terms for money. I finished this more quickly than today’s regular cryptic, but thoroughly enjoyed both of them.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ****
We have an entertaining puzzle from Shamus today (but no Nina, as far as I can tell!). Let us know your thoughts in a comment!
As always, the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets under the clues. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
Hello everybody welcome to Monday! I thought this crossword was a little more difficult that we have had for the last few weeks, however it did not detract from the enjoyment. Are there too many anagrams? Possibly, but it’s still a very good puzzle. Favourite clues have to be 11a and 28a just for their sheer simplicity.
If the hint is not enough to allow you to work out the answer, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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A few hints to get you started
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 17th June.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
If any of you are about to pick your jaws off the floor after seeing a 2-star difficulty rating, let me just say that from time to time it’s possible to be on the setter’s wavelength from clue 1, and for the answers to flood in with barely a pause. It’s quite rare, but it happens. That was certainly the case here, with nine across answers entered almost without thinking, which of course was an ideal start for filling several downs as well. To be honest I could have reduced the rating to 1 star, but while the answers went in quickly there were occasions when unravelling the wordplay wasn’t straightforward, and as I write this I’m still thinking about 24a and 28a.
Easy as the puzzle is, there are some cracking clues as you’d expect from Elgar, 4d being the pick of the bunch, and the odd bit of signature naughtiness. Another Elgar trademark is the occasional strangeness of surface reading – perhaps a few more than usual in this puzzle.
As ever, my favourite clues are in blue.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.